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Welcome to the home page for a 2008 NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers, "Traditions Into Dialogue: Confucianism and Contemporary Virtue Ethics," co-directed by Stephen Angle and Michael Slote and held at the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies on the campus of Wesleyan University.

Key Information

Co-Directors: Stephen Angle, Wesleyan University
Michael Slote, University of Miami

Confucian and Neo-Confucian ethics are increasingly regarded as forms of virtue ethics. In recent decades there has been a revival and renaissance of virtue ethics in Anglo-American philosophy. These facts, together with the emergence of China as a great world power, make it sensible, even imperative, for Western thinkers interested in virtue ethics to learn more about the great traditions of Chinese ethics.

This Summer Seminar will bring together American philosophers with backgrounds in virtue ethics or related areas to learn from the great texts of Chinese philosophy under the guidance of experts in the field. In addition, those attending the seminar will be invited (and offered financial support) to give a paper at a conference on “Confucianism and Virtue Ethics” that will bring Chinese and American scholars together in Beijing during the summer of 2009.

Participants will be expected to have completed a PhD in philosophy and to have demonstrated research interest in virtue ethics or a closely-related topic. No background in Chinese language or philosophy will be assumed, though individuals with such a background are welcome to apply.

More information on the seminar's background and rationale can be found in the Invitation Letter; details of the logistics are covered in other tabs on the left.